[wxPython-dev] Using AUI in the demo

[Andrea Gavana]

Hi Kevin and All,

> Let me give you a quick example. To fix the accessibility issues
> Rafael Bejarano raised (i.e. VoiceOver support on Mac) for
> CustomTreeCtrl, someone would have to craft a cross-platform wx
> accessibility API at the C++ level, go on wx-dev and iron it out,
> then implement it on Win/Mac/Linux, and then modify CustomTreeCtrl to
> use that accessibility API. Unless you or someone else volunteers for
> that effort, that leaves us with two options - forget about
> accessibility support, or use native controls, which mostly have
> support built-in or can be quickly fixed because we can access the
> underlying native control events/APIs from C++.

as long as I will be using wxPython (and that will be forever, as for
me a superior GUI toolkit doesn't exist yet), I volunteer to make
whatever modification to keep it updated. CustomTreeCtrl is one of my
children, and I contributed it to the community because *I* thought it
would have been useful. The fact that a lot of users have switched
from wx.TreeCtrl to CustomTreeCtrl is a measure of its usefulness.
Moreover, as far as wxWidgets is concerned, on GTK and Mac
CustomTreeCtrl *is* the native tree control. Mac and GTK are using the
generic implementation of wx.TreeCtrl, that means CustomTreeCtrl
without the whistles and bells I attached. I am sure Mac and GTK have
their own native implementation, but the fact that wxWidgets is not
wrapping them means only that the generic one is good enough on those
platforms. So, if that is good enough, I don't see why wxAUI should
not be good enough also on Mac.

> Well, I think AUI looks less native on Mac and works in a fairly non-
> intuitive manner compared to native apps. I think some of it could be
> fixed, but I still think it would be awkward on Mac,

Maybe, but I don't remember many objections when wxAUI was proposed to
be included in wxWidgets. If wxAUI didn't exist, then it would have
been wxIFM, but the result would have been the same. Noting how
selective Vadim and wx-dev crew are in adding or modifying something,
the fact that wxAUI was included in wxWidgets on *all* platforms is
another confirmation of my way of thinking. Then we can argue as much
as you want about non-nativeness on Mac, but wxAUI will still be
there.

> and moreover, I think 2.8.4 should not be held back by it in order to increase our
> chances of getting the wx updates into Leopard.

Ok, it looks like I am the only one that likes the new demo interface.
No problem about that, I believe it's better if Robin will put back
the old one and we forget about the new one. I don't really care, it
was just my way to respond to a comment Robin made in the demo:

# UI Interface more modern?

It seems to me it looks like that, but maybe my sense of "modern" is a
bit screwed up :-D. I'll think twice the next time I feel something is
going to look better before proposing it.

Andrea.

"Imagination Is The Only Weapon In The War Against Reality."
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/infinity77/